Game pieces



April 12, 1960 M. BURROS GAME PIECES Filed Dec. 18, 1957 INVENTOR MORRIS [Bu/mos X ZQL ATTORNEYS GAME PIECES Morris Burros, New Britain, Conn.

Application December 18, 1957, Serial No. 703,566

4 Claims. (Cl. 273-137) This invention relates to game pieces and in particular to a game piece carrying game playing indicia on a surface thereof, which indicia may be hidden within the body of the piece or exposed to view depending upon a simple manipulation of the game piece by the player during the play of the game.

In the usual game piece the value bearing indicia are contained on one surface of the piece and no provision is made for concealing such indicia when that surface of the piece is exposed to view. Consequently, in such games as dominos, scrabble, and the like, the game pieces must be turned over and be placed face down upon the table or game surface at the end of one game or play in order to conceal the value of the pieces before the next game or play may proceed. This is both time consuming and ineffective in many respects in hiding the value of the piece from view, since in shufiling the facedown pieces prior to the start of play, quite often one or more of the pieces will unintentionally be turned over, exposing the value thereof and further delaying the start of the game.

Additionally, the conventional form of game piece, having indicia always exposed to view on one side thereof, invites cheating or dishonest play on the part of some players.

Accordingly, among the principal objects of the present invention are to provide an indicia bearing game piece, or the like, which is free from the above disadvantages, which contains indicia capable of being completely hidden from view irrespective of the position of the game piece upon the playing surface, and in which dishonest play; on the part of the players is reduced to a minimum.

, It is a further object of the invention to provide a game piece with a body portion and a slidable member structurally associated therewith for relative movement with respect thereto, and indicia carried by the piece which are exposed to view in one position of the slidable member and completely hidden in another position of said member with respect to the body portion of the piece.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of .example, the principle of the invention and the best modes which have been contemplated of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the preferred form of game piece embodying the invention, with indicia exposed to view;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same game piece with the indicia completely hidden;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the indicia bearing slidable member;

Figure 4 is a top end view of the game piece of Fig. 1;

Figure 5 is a bottom end view of the game piece of Fig. 1;

Figure 6 is a bottom end view of the game piece, similar to Fig. 5, but showing a modified guideway surface fine 2 construction, and Figure 6A is an end view of the slidable member to be used therewith;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of game piece with the slidable member extending from one end and exposing to view the indicia carried thereby;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the game piece of Fig. 7, with the movable member carrying the indicia totally concealed within the game piece;

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the movable member of the Fig. 7 modified form of the invention;

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a further modified form of game piece embodying the invention with the facing cover therefor removed to reveal the slidable member;

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the movable member employed in the Fig. 10 modification;

Figure 12 is a sectional view taken on the line 12-12 of Fig. 10 with the facing cover in position as it will appear in the completed game piece; and

Figure 13 is a fragmentary view in perspective of a stand for use with the game pieces to facilitate movement of the slidable members therein and to retain the pieces in playable position before a player. T

Broadly speaking, the invention comprises a game piece which comprises at least two members movable relative to each other with game playing indicia carried on the. surface of one of said members, which indicia are exposed to view in one position of said members relative to each other and completely concealed from view in. another position of said members.

- Referring to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 6, wherein a body member 10, preferably of rectangular configuratiom is provided with a slideway 11 extending therethrough from one end to the other of said body member and preferably parallel to the faces of said body member, said slideway adapted to receive a slidable member 12 having game playing indicia 13 on one surface thereof. A window 14 is formed in one face of the body member extending com pletely through a portion of that face to the slideway 11 to expose the slidable member 12 to view through said' window when the member 12 is moved in said slideway into a position beneath said window, thereby making the indicia carried by that portion of the member visible to the players. Preferably the window is of sufiicientdimensions to expose a substantial part of the surface or the slidable member 11 when the latter is moved into view and, as shown in the drawings, may extend from one end of the body member down to approximately one-half the length of the face of the body member and of awidth slightly less than the width of the slideway 11. A

The slidable member 12 is formed of a size to snugly fit the slideway so as to be normally retained therein by the relative frictional contact between the surfaces of the memberand the walls of the slideway, but capable of being forcefully moved therein as hereinafter recited Furthermore, member 12. is dimensioned so that it may be completely concealed from view on being forcefully moved beneath the face of the body member below the;- window opening, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings, where the member 12 is shown completely-hidden within the body member-"10.

In the preferred form of the invention, the movable member 12 may be moved into indicia viewing position" without any portion thereof projecting beyond the outer end of the body member of the game piece. This has decided advantages in playing games such as anagrams, scrabble, dominos, etc. where the game pieces in play" are played in closely associated positions upon the play ing surface.

A second embodiment of the invention is shownlin Figs. 7 to 9 where a rectangular game piece 20 is pro f vided with a longitudinal slideway 21 extending the entire length of the piece and in which a slidable member 22, carrying game playing indicia 23 at either end thereof, is frictionally held therein but forcefully movable along the slideway so as to be partially projected from either selected end, as shown in Fig. 7 forexposing' the indicia carried thereby.

A third embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. to 12. In this form of the game piece the body 39 thereof is provided with a different form of slideway 31, which in addition to extending longitudinally throughout the game piece, has areas of the body member removed from either side thereof, which areas are between the ends of the piece and which act asfurther guideways for the oppositely'and laterally extending arms 34-34 extending from either side of the slidable member 33. The removal of the areas at the sides of the guideway leaves the shouldered abu'trnents 35-35 and 36-36 in the body memberwhich act as limiting stop members for retaining the slidable member 33 from being completely removed from the game piece body. The slidable member 33 carrying indicia at its outer end portion, as shown, is forcefully movable from a completely concealed position within the body of the game piece to a position where the upper edge surfaces of the arms 34-34 contact the lower edge surfaces of the abutments35-35 to limit the outward movement of the member 33, at which point of limitation the outer end portion of the slidable member bearing the game playing indicia will be projected or extended beyond the end of the body 30 and hence visible to the players. The projecting end of member 33 onlbeing forcefully moved downwardly into the body of the game piece will preferably reach the fully concealed position within the body, as shown in Fig. 10, with the lower edges of the side arms 34-34 contacting the abutments 36-46 and limit ing downward movement therein. Additionally, the lower portion of the slideway 31 which receives the lower end37 of the slidable member 33 may have its sides somewhat inclined to receive a similarly inclined or tapered lower end portion 37, as will be understood from reference to Fig. 10 of the drawings. These tapered contacting' surfaces will also act asstop means limiting downward movement of the indicia bearing member 31.

'As heretofore described, the indicia carried by the slidable members in each form of the device shown will be completely hidden from view by forcefully pressing the slidable member downwardly within the body of the game piece. In the forms shown in Figs. 7 to 9 and Figs. 10 to 12 this is simply accomplished by finger pressure forcing the protruding part of the slidable member into the body of the piece. In the preferred form of game piece shown in Figs. lie 5, the same procedure is followed except'that the player merely pushes the slidable member 12 below the window opening to the concealed position shown in Fig. 2.

In the fully concealed position the game pieces may readily be shufiled without regard to their facing position, without the exercise of undue care and without danger of any player inadvertently seeing the value of any of the pieces to the disadvantage of the other players. Likewise the pieces can be dealt or drawn by the players, depending on the game being played, with no danger of the values being seen until the players so desire. As heretofore mentioned, the slidable member snugly fits theslideway and will be held in place by the frictional contact of the surfaces.

. When'the player desires to determine the value of his piece, he merely pushes the slidable member upwardly to the indicia exposing position. This may readily be accomplished by the insertion of a flat or rod-like element of any sort into the slideway at the bottom of the game piece against the lower end of the slidable member and then forcefully moving the member upwardly until the indicia on the member are fully exposed to view as heretofore explained.

. usual card games.

. member in any other forceful manner.

, sired game.

In some instances a convenient holder or stand may be employed for the game pieces as shown in Fig. 13. As there shown, a stand 40 of any suitable construction is provided with an upper edge portion containing a series of upstanding rod or pin-like elements 41 of a diameter and length suflicient to enter the slideway in the bottom portion of the game piece and to move the slidable mem her into proper position to expose the indicia carried thereby when a player places the game piece over said pin or rod and forces the piece into contact with the stand. In Fig. 13 a game piece 10 of the preferred form has been placed over one of the elements 41 to move the indicia into view through the window of the piece. Not only will the pin or rod 41 act to move the slidable member, but it will also retain the game piece on the rack or stand 40, which may be an advantage in playing some types of games. w

The game pieces may be formed of any suitable material such as plastic composition, metal, wood and rubber' compositions. It is preferred, however, to mold the same out of a plastic composition, real or synthetic, in which the body of the game pieces may be integrally formed, However, the body of the pieces may be made up of a laminated construction, if desired, which may be preferable in such forms of the invention as that shown in Figs. 10 to 12. In the form there shown, the body face 30 and the abutments 3535 and 3636 may be molded as an integral unit and the facing cover 38 may be separately formed. Afterthe movable element 33 is placed on the body member 30, the facing cover 38 may be's uitably adhered to the body member to form the I finished game piece.

While the slideway 11 and the slidable members 12 have been shown as rectangular in cross section, it may be desirable to give the side contacting surfaces a V-shape configuration as illustrated at'lS and 16 in Fig. 6 and Fig. 6A.-

It will be understood that the game piece may be provided with any form of indicia necessary to play any de- This would include ordinary playing card indicia where a set of these game pieces could be used in lieu of an ordinary deck of cards in playing any of the Furthermore, the indicia may beapplied to the movable elements in any desired manner, including embossed or raised indicia, such as employed in braille characters.

While it has been heretofore mentioned that the slidable member may be forcefully moved in the slideway of the game piece" by the insertion of a flat or rod-like element into one end of the slideway against the edge or end of the slidablemembe'r and then forcefully moving said member by said element as it is held in the players hand, or the slidable member may be moved by the use of a'stand employing upstanding rods or pin-like elements, as shown in Fig. 13,- it is,- however, within the scope of the present invention to move the said slidable For example, it is within the spirit of the invention to provide the slidable members with an actuating element, which may readily extend outwardly through a longitudinally ex-' tending slot formed in one of the side faces of the body member, whereby the player may grasp the actuating element between two fingers and forcefully move the slidable member thereby within the limits of the slot. It will be understandable that the length of the slot, in such a case, must be adequate to permit the slidable memher to be moved from an exposed indicia position to a concealed indicia position.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as appliedto preferred embodiments, it will be understood I 7 intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A game piece comprising a body member, a slideway formed therein, a slidable member frictionally contained in the slideway in said body member and forcefully movable therein, said slidable member being of less length than the length of said slideway so as to be completely containable within the said body member during normal use of the game piece, said body member having a portion of one side face thereof removed to define a window therein exposing to view a part of said slideway, said window being of less width than the width of both said slideway and said slidable member, and game playing indicia carried by said slidable member and exposable to view through said window when said slidable member is forcefully moved in said slideway to a position beneath said window and completely concealed from view within said body member when said slidable member is moved out of position with respect to said window.

2. A set of game pieces each constructed in accord with claim 1 and wherein the indicia on each piece of said set are different from the indicia of the other game pieces of said set.

3. The game piece of claim 1 wherein the slideway extends throughout the length of said body member.

4. A game piece comprising a body member, a slideway formed therein, a slidable member frictionally contained in said slideway and forcefully movable therein, said slidable member being of less length than the length of said slideway so as to be completely containable within the said body member during normal use of the game piece, said body member having a portion of one side face thereof removed to define a window therein exposing to view a part of said slideway, said window being of less width than the width of both said slideway and said slidable member, game playing indicia carried by one of said members and exposable to view through said window depending upon the relative position of said slidable member in said slideway with reference to said window.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,700,016 Belanger Jan. 22, 1929 2,008,189 Rippon July 16, 1935 2,230,332 Moore Feb. 4, 1941 2,335,713 Vogel Nov. 30, 1943 2,413,369 OBrien Dec. 31, 1946 2,486,260 Church Oct. 25, 1949 2,543,609 Stark Feb. 27, 1951 

